Live load and dead load

The primary function of a bridge is to carry traffic loads: heavy trucks, cars, and trains. Engineers must estimate the traffic loading. On short spans, it is possible that the maximum conceivable load will be achieved—that is to say, on spans of less than 30 metres (100 feet), four heavy trucks may cross at the same time, two in each direction. On longer spans of a thousand metres or more, the maximum conceivable load is such a remote possibility (imagine the Golden Gate Bridge with only heavy trucks crossing bumper-to-bumper in each direction at the same time) that the cost of designing for it is unreasonable. Therefore, engineers use probable loads as a basis for design.

In order to carry traffic, the structure must have some weight, and on short spans this dead load weight is usually less than the live loads. On longer spans, however, the dead load is greater than live loads, and, as spans get longer, it becomes more important to design forms that minimize dead load. In general, shorter spans are built with beams, hollow boxes, trusses, arches, and continuous versions of the same, while longer spans use cantilever, cable-stay, and suspension forms. As spans get longer, questions of shape, materials, and form become increasingly important. New forms have evolved to provide longer spans with more strength from less material.

Forces of nature

Dead and live weight are essentially vertical loads, whereas forces from nature may be either vertical or horizontal. Wind causes two important loads, one called static and the other dynamic. Static wind load is the horizontal pressure that tries to push a bridge sideways. Dynamic wind load gives rise to vertical motion, creating oscillations in any direction. Like the breaking of an overused violin string, oscillations are vibrations that can cause a bridge to fail. If a deck is thin and not properly shaped and supported, it may experience dangerous vertical or torsional (twisting) movements.

The expansion and contraction of bridge materials by heat and cold have been minimized by the use of expansion joints in the deck along with bearings at the abutments and at the tops of piers. Bearings allow the bridge to react to varying temperatures without causing detrimental stress to the material. In arches, engineers sometimes design hinges to reduce stresses caused by temperature movement.

Modern bridges must also withstand natural disasters such as tropical cyclones and earthquakes. In general, earthquakes are best withstood by structures that carry as light a dead weight as possible, because the horizontal forces that arise from ground accelerations are proportional to the weight of the structure. (This phenomenon is explained by the fundamental Newtonian law of force equals mass times acceleration.) For cyclones, it is generally best that the bridge be aerodynamically designed to have little solid material facing the winds, so that they may pass through or around the bridge without setting up dangerous oscillations.

The history of bridge design

Modern bridges, the focus of this article, began with the introduction of industrially produced iron. They have evolved over the past 200 years as engineers have come to understand better the new possibilities inherent first in cast iron, then in wrought iron and structural steel, and finally in reinforced and prestressed concrete. These materials have led to bridge designs that have broken completely with the designs in wood or stone that characterized bridges before the Industrial Revolution.

Industrial strength has been an important factor in the evolution of bridges. Great Britain, the leading industrialized country of the early 19th century, built the most significant bridges of that time. Likewise, innovations arose in the United States from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century and in Japan and Germany in subsequent decades. Switzerland, with its highly industrialized society, has also been a fertile ground for advances in bridge building.

The ancient world

Beam bridges

The first bridges were simply supported beams, such as flat stones or tree trunks laid across a stream. For valleys and other wider channels—especially in East Asia and South America, where examples can still be found—ropes made of various grasses and vines tied together were hung in suspension for single-file crossing. Materials were free and abundant, and there were few labour costs, since the work was done by slaves, soldiers, or natives who used the bridges in daily life.

Footbridge over a channel in the Tu Chiang-yen irrigation system on the Ch’eng-tu Plain, Szechwan …

Some of the earliest known bridges are called clapper bridges (from Latin claperius, “pile of stones”). These bridges were built with long, thin slabs of stone to make a beam-type deck and with large rocks or blocklike piles of stones for piers. Postbridge in Devon, England, an early medieval clapper bridge, is an oft-visited example of this old type, which was common in much of the world, especially China.

Any supported horizontal structure that spans an open space may be termed a bridge. While some bridges are simple structures, others are masterpieces of engineering. All of them must be able to support the weight of the bridge materials themselves as well as of the traffic on top. They must also be able to withstand winds and other environmental stresses, such as earthquakes. Many of the majestic structures seen today span vast distances and support great weights, a tremendous technological advance in comparison to the simple bridges first devised by the earliest humans.

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